Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the devastated territory, taking only a handful of reporters inside on tightly controlled visits alongside its troops.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of foreign journalists, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking immediate access for international journalists to Gaza.
The court held its first hearing on Thursday.
The State Attorney acknowledged that “the situation has changed” since the Gaza ceasefire but requested a further 30 days to examine the circumstances.
On Oct 10, a US-backed ceasefire took effect and Israel started pulling back troops from some areas of Gaza.
The court granted Israeli authorities a month to develop a plan for granting foreign journalists access to Gaza.
“The Foreign Press Association is disappointed in the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to grant the State of Israel yet another delay regarding the independent entry of journalists into Gaza,” the FPA said in a statement after the hearing.
The FPA said the Israeli government had sought to delay the entry of journalists into Gaza repeatedly, halting them from “carrying out their journalistic duties and hindering the public’s right to information”.
“The government’s position remains unacceptable. We renew our call for immediate access to Gaza,” it added.
An AFP journalist serves on the FPA’s board of directors.
The FPA began petitioning for independent access to Gaza soon after the war broke out following Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.
But these demands have been repeatedly ignored by Israeli authorities.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has joined the petition filed by the FPA, and said that Israeli forces have killed more than 210 Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
“The result is an unprecedented violation of press freedom and the public’s right to reliable, independent, and pluralistic media reporting,” Antoine Bernard, RSF’s director for advocacy and assistance, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“No excuse, no restriction can justify not opening Gaza to international, Israeli and Palestinian media,” he said.